Paula Nickelson

Paula Nickelson served as Missouri’s State Health Official and Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services from March 2022 to March 2025.  As well, Ms. Nickelson was Missouri’s lead for public health and healthcare (Essential Service Function #8) for all emergency responses during her tenure.

As Director, Nickelson was responsible for the oversight and management of the department and the administration of its programs and services overseeing 2,000 staff and a budget of $2.8 billion to protect the health and safety of Missourians. The divisions of Administration, Community and Public Health, Regulation and Licensure, Senior and Disability Services and State Public Health Laboratory; Offices of Public Information, General Counsel, Governmental Policy and Legislation reported to the director.

Serving the state Department for more than 25 years, Nickelson has a distinguished career in public health and healthcare management. During her tenure with the Department, Nickelson was a leader in several program areas, including maternal-child health, chronic disease prevention, and emergency preparedness and response. Nickelson also served in a variety of leadership roles in the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO, the Public Health Accrediting Board (PHAB) and is a frequent speaker in various regional and national forums.

Nickelson was involved in the state’s H1N1 response and planning efforts following the 9/11 attacks. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Nickelson put her vast experience to work as a reliable, calming, and realistic leader to implement game-changing solutions during COVID-19. She helped establish the state’s first PPE warehouse, led an interagency team that implemented the “box it in” COVID mitigation strategy for long-term care facilities, oversaw the state’s antigen testing program, and led the implementation of the state’s decontamination system for N95 masks for healthcare workers when resources were still scarce. Nickelson also established state-funded monoclonal antibody infusion sites,  was part of the team responsible for providing healthcare staffing support through ‘just-in-time’ expansion of the state’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) and federal staffing contracts, as well as through both state-to-state Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) and the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) staffing.

Nickelson currently owns and operates Nickelson Consulting LLC providing professional consultation services in a broad array of topics inclusive of leadership and organizational development, policy development and execution, strategic counsel to move past partisanship in issues specific to public health and healthcare, and public health/healthcare emergency preparedness and response.  Nickelson can be reached at [email protected]